First Graduate Assessment Practice Questions

The FGA contains three tests, covering verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. Below are examples of the kind of questions you will find in the FGA. The key to successfully completing the FGA is to read the question VERY carefully.

The Verbal Test

This presents you with a passage of information followed by four questions per passage. Each question contains four statements and you have to identify the two statements that are true on the basis of the information given in the passage.
The information technology (IT) industry has a very high turnover in personnel. Each year, many companies can expect between 15 and 20 % of employees involved with IT to move to other organisations. In some cases, this figure may be as high as 50%. This high turnover rate is very costly to companies, as it takes time and resources to train new employees in the operating procedures and systems of the organisation.

The shortage of well qualified IT staff is the main reason for the high turnover. In order to attract good staff, organisations now offer high salaries to experienced IT professionals. This encourages people to move jobs frequently in search of higher salaries and new learning opportunities. In order to retain staff, organisations are now realising the value of matching the interests and motivations of potential employees with those of the wider organisation. By doing this, they are more likely to recruit individuals with a genuine interest in the organisation who are less likely to leave sooner than expected for reasons such as seeking higher salaries.

Which two of these statements must be true?
A: There is now a surplus of people with IT skills looking for work true
false
B: Higher salaries can encourage IT professionals to move to other organisations true
false
C: Some organisations now examine the motivations of prospective IT employees true
false
D: The IT industry has the highest turnover of personnel in any industry true
false

The Numerical Test

This presents you with a stem of information followed by four questions. The stem can present information in a variety of ways, for example, table, graph, bar chart, text. You have to use the information from the stem, plus any additional information the question gives you, to identify which one of the six answer options is correct. An example of an information stem follwed by a question is given below.

The following graph shows the profit made by three companies over three years.

fganumer.gif

Over the three years, what was the mean (average) difference in profits between Company X and Company Y
A: £100,000
B: £150,000
C: £200,000
D: £150,000
E: £300,000
F: £350,000

The Abstract Test

This consists of a series of shapes on a grid. One of the shapes from each grid is missing, as indicated by a question mark. The organisation of shapes within each grid is governed by a fixed rule, and you have to identify the rule from the shapes provided and then select which of the six answer options best fits in place of the missing item.

fgaabst.gif (13213 bytes)


 Answers.